


do you still believe in one another

by 1000ft



Series: hey arizona [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Matt Holt's Infinite Booze Supply, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pre-Relationship, affectionate sucker punches, broganes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 15:58:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13251609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000ft/pseuds/1000ft
Summary: Shiro was his brother, no matter what. If Keith couldn’t go to him for relationship advice - no matter the amount of unwarranted relationship advice Keith had dished out over the years - then was there any hope for him?





	do you still believe in one another

Keith’s never had a brother, but he thinks Shiro is, for all intents and purposes, his. 

 

Not that Hunk isn’t like a brother to him now, and not that Pidge isn’t like the younger sibling he never had, but Takashi Shirogane had been a name said alongside Keith Kogane far before  _ Paladin _ and  _ Galra _ and  _ Defender of the Universe _ . 

 

Keith can comfortably say that Shiro was the first genuine friendship he made--not just at the Garrison, but in the entirety of Earth’s population, however loathe Keith is to admit that the plants in the shack’s window-box  _ didn’t count as friends I know thank you, Lance _ . What started out as a reluctant hero worship had dragged itself over coals to be a quiet friendship, and then a boisterous one, because Keith wasn’t an idle adult now and certainly wasn’t an idle sixteen year old. 

 

And, yeah, so being friends with star-senior-student-Takashi came with the perks of late simulator access and patrol schedules. It’s not like Keith was going to let those things go to  _ waste.  _

(Anyone who was close with Shiro knew he didn’t waste those things either. There was a source to Matt Holt’s Infinite Booze Supply, after all.) 

 

For the three years that Keith was friends with Shiro (and the awkward five months when Keith had chewed his nails to oblivion because Shiro was  _ hot _ , okay? Hot, smart, friendly, with a wicked grin reserved for Keith and the stupid shit they did together) they were attached at the hip, or one a few steps behind the other, or scrambling over each other to get out of view when they snuck back onto base, and they  _ argued _ .

 

Small fights, things that Keith suspected then (and now, with experience, knows) that friends just  _ do.  _ No two people can be on the same page all the time. They went circles about Keith not feeling like he fit in at the Garrison, how the students seemed to look on in awe but shy away as if he radiated cold. 

 

(Not that he did much to assuage this, but he wasn’t there to make friends, and if all the other students had to offer was disdain, well. It doesn’t matter to him much anymore.)

 

Keith’s biggest argument with Shiro had been, to the subject’s grand amusement, over Matt Holt. 

 

Matt hadn’t know what, exactly, it was about, but he’d known enough to catch the looks that Keith and Shiro sent to each other, and then to Matt. Keith knows he caught on--Matt was a genius then just as he is now, but Keith finds it curious that he never caught on to the glaring,  _ stupidly _ adorable way Shiro was head over heels for him. 

 

Shiro’s excuses against getting into Matt’s pants had ranged from the practical ( _ it’s a military school, Keith, it just isn’t professional for senior cadets in the same flight team _ )  to the desperate ( _ he puts eggs on his pizza, Keith! Eggs! _ ) and Keith had badgered for almost a year before Shiro had snapped. 

 

_ “It’s none of your business, Keith,”  _ he’d said. Keith remembers, clearly, the way his shoulders had drawn back, face blank and wicked-grin nowhere in the furrow of his eyebrows. 

 

_ “It is my business if it’s hurting you, Shiro. You care a lot about him and he’s  _ right in front of you.  _ Take the chance before you lose it!”  _

 

Looking back on it, Keith thinks that Shiro had wanted to dig back at Keith, with the way he’d inhaled. What would Keith know about caring, anyway? Instead, Shiro said:

 

_ “What I do with my love life is  _ absolutely  _ no concern of _ yours.”

 

That argument had put an abrupt end to Keith’s nail-biting crush. 

 

Six months later, Shiro had been launched into space with half of the Holt family, and Keith had done nothing but give Matt a significant look on launch day. As if to say: he’s right here, Shiro. He’s here, so take the chance before you lose it. 

 

Keith regrets now, in the castleship with a rescued Matt Holt soon to be sent off to help his rebels, that he was right. Shiro lost his chance, and even when Pidge first found their brother, Shiro had made no move to reconnect with Matt, to be as close as they used to be at the Garrison. It’s the irony of the universe, working against him again, that Keith finds himself pacing just outside Shiro’s door, thinking about crushes and chances and, in all cosmic justice for every shitty thing Keith’s ever done, his duty as a Paladin and a Blade.

 

With a deep breath, Keith knocks on the metal door. His cracked knuckles are almost completely healed, but Keith winces at the way the sound echoes. 

 

Shiro was his brother, no matter what. If Keith couldn’t go to him for relationship advice--no matter the amount of unwarranted relationship advice  _ Keith _ had dished out over the years--then was there any hope for him? 

 

Well, obviously, yes, since Lance all but draped himself over Keith’s lap every chance he could, but, of course, the dramatics. Keith sighs at the door. There has to be dramatics at some point. He’s pinning, isn’t he? 

 

The door opens, Shiro gives Keith a wordless once-over, and sighs as if Keith’s already been talking for three whole hours. Keith makes sure land a sucker punch in Shiro’s stomach as he walks into the room. 

(Or tries to, anyway. They’ve all grown in the past few years, but old habits die hard, and Shiro’s dodge is too ingrained.)

 

Shiro nudges the side of Keith’s booth when he flops face-first on the bed. “So, what happened with Lance.”

 

“How do you know I’m here to talk about Lance?” Muffled through a pillow and two blankets. 

 

Keith lets Shiro shove his feet over and feels the end of the bed dip when the other sits. This could be any other day, if Keith’s heart wasn’t pounding into overdrive, making his palms sweat and his throat close. 

 

What if Shiro thought it was a bad idea? What if, Keith almost shudders, Shiro starts putting distance between him and Lance, to focus on their mission, to avoid conflicts of interest, to--

 

“Alright, buddy,” Shiro pinches his thigh. “Out with it before I get even more gray hair.” 

 

With a groan and decidedly ungraceful flop, Keith turns onto his back and squints at his adopted brother. He should just come out and say it, right? If he thinks about it too hard the words will never make it past his lips, so better to just-- 

 

“I think I’m in love with Lance?”

 

Shiro looks at him wordlessly. His eyebrows have not moved. His eyes are not widening in surprise. After a few heartbeats that Keith is pretty certain Pidge can hear all the way in the control room, Shiro says, “You know what. I think I’m going to suddenly have more gray hair after hearing that.” 

 

“Hey!” Keith sits upright, panic clouding the teasing furrow of Shiro’s eyebrows. He was right, wasn’t he? He shouldn’t have said anything at all. He’ll have to sneak around with Lance from now on. A relationship of dark corners and--shit, what if Lance doesn’t even want that? What if he’d had the same thoughts as Keith, put their duties as Paladins first, and hasn’t asked him out yet  _ because of that?  _

 

Keith breathes a very heartfelt, “Oh, fuck.”

 

“Wait, wait, don’t freak out--I can literally see you freaking out, Keith, close your mouth and don’t try to deny it.” Shiro pokes Keith between his eyes. “Why did you say that like a question, and why are you telling me and not, say, Lance?”

 

Oh. Well. Keith hadn’t exactly planned out this part of the conversation. “I, uh. Wanted...p-permission-- _ don’t laugh!” _

 

Keith kicks at his dumbass best friend until he falls off the bed, all six foot four of him laughing on the ground like a toddler. “I literally hate you and let me explain.”

 

“Keith, if you’re asking for my blessing, I don’t think you need it until you guys at least get married--”

 

“Shiro.” 

 

Keith’s smile drops. Shiro must hear it in his voice, because he sits at the foot of the bed with one elbow resting on the mattress, eyes still dancing with mirth but face otherwise neutral. The title of his head says  _ explain.  _

 

“I want to make sure you’re not going to try to stop me from...uh. Asking him out, I guess? Because Lance and I are both Paladins, we both have to focus on our mission, and I. . .remember what you said when we were at the Garrison.” Keith doesn’t want to watch the flinch in Shiro’s face for what he says next, but figures it’d be an easy out to look away. He meets dark, tired eyes and continues. 

 

“You told me that you wouldn’t go after Matt because it would be unprofessional. And I know professional isn’t our main concern here, but...What’s that look for?”

 

Shiro’s eyebrows have made a slow and steady trek towards his hairline. There’s a small, blink-and-miss-it quirk to his lips that reminds Keith so strongly of the smile Shiro wore before Voltron, before Kerberos.

 

“Keith,” he starts. Keith can’t tell if he should settle in for a Dad Talk or if Shiro is going to sucker punch him with what Keith desperately wants to hear. “Whatever is in your head right now, stop thinking about it. The Garrison was a long time ago, and how I felt about Matt was a long time ago.”

 

Keith looks down to his lap, palms pressed together, and tries to school his eyebrows into something that doesn’t make him scowl. A moment passes in silence and the castle settles and creaks around them. 

 

He would say that these kinds of conversations just might make him rethink relationships, but...Keith’s certain that he’d handle a million awkward talks for Lance. 

 

(Because fighting? Easy. Talking about feelings...Not so much.)

 

Shiro takes a breath, as if finding the words he needs, and continues. “I love you, Keith, and I love Lance, just like I love everyone else on this team. If you can make each other happy in the middle of something as...as destructive as a  _ war _ ? If you two can build something out of love  _ despite _ fighting monsters every day, then you don’t need anyone’s permission.”

 

Keith’s heart thuds to a stop in his chest. 

 

“Hey, Keith.”

 

His head snaps up too fast. Is his brain processing this right?

“Go tell Lance you’re in love with him, you loser.”

 

If Keith scrambles to his feet and face-plants off the bed, Shiro only laughs for ten minutes. Keith curses at him rather creatively and swears to never speak of the conversation again. 

**Author's Note:**

> My stress levels thank everyone who has left kudos and comments in this series.
> 
> Title from "Hey Brother" by Avicii.


End file.
